The Colas c27.22.1

c27.22.1

A brief review of some typical inscriptions will convey a general idea of the nature and number of taxes, cesses and other dues. Though their name is legion, most of them were not general, but occasional and restricted in their incidence. In A.D. 944 the *sabhā* of Ukkal resolved that their executive committees⁴⁵ were to abstain from exacting *Veṭṭi* (forced labour), *Vedilai* and *Vālakkāṇam* from the tenants settled in Śōdiyambākkam, a a hamlet assigned to a Viṣṇu temple in the locality; the temple was moreover granted the right to levy and exact fines (*manṟu-pāḍu*) from the peasants of the village for their faults and sins (*kurṟan-dōṣam*).⁴⁶ The Madras Museum Plates of Uttama Cōḷa record that the older inhabitants of Śōḷāniyamam in Kāñcīpuram, an area belonging to the temple, were excused the payment of all ancient dues;⁴⁷ those residents, however, who had come from other towns and villages and had settled in it, were required to contribute as *iṟai* to the god of Ūragam a quarter measure of oil and two *nāḷis* of rice per household per month; even they were exempt from any other dues levied by the *nagaram*.